Pheasants Forever- SCAM or do they help upland hunters?

gim said:
Oh I see now it's time to rip on Minnesota again.

I went to the P/Q fest in Mpls a few years ago on free tickets and it was kinda lame IMO. Not really what I was expecting.
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It ain't too hard to rip on Little Somalia when basicaly evrerybody there sings alla ockbar.
 
gim said:
Except when its in Minneapolis, right?

Funny how its a great place to visit but only when it fits the location narrative that an individual favors...
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I am fine with MN, haven't been to Minneapolis but a few times, it was fine....still need to get there for a Vikings games, but maybe not this season. I am just over 100 miles from Sioux Falls or Omaha, but Minneapolis is 4.5 hours each way, Des Moines is 3 hours. Been to Pheasantfest in Omaha once and Sioux Falls twice.
The bad press now is the fraud they say has happened with the Somalis. Waltz is taking some heat.
 
And here's your tip if you want to try to wheel and deal on something there. Go on the last day and make some offers, a lot of times the vendors don't want to pack it back up and bring it back with them.
 
Gatzby said:
Minnesota is a fantastic state burdened with Minneapolis and to a slightly less degree St. Paul. If 1/2 of Hennepin county, and 1/2 of Ramsey county disappeared we would be a mecca 9 months of the year.
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You can say the same thing about Colorado except it's burdened with Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collin's!
 
I am a member of pf.

For the little it costs me any good publicity is good for upland.

With that said imo the money should be spent this way.

Buy private land and convert to public.

Keep habitat up on that land to foster bird numbers and growth.

I don’t think the money should go directly to habitat we cannot hunt.

The pa game commission does the same thing albeit that is not a donation it’s liscens sales. They will put in habitat in places we may or may not have access to with permission. At the end of the day all that does is foster some farmers property for them to shoot big bucks. Seems like a waste imo.

Once again for what they get from em a year I cannot say to much but I do contribute


The local chapter by my camp has done a wonderful job in elk county pa. Great habitat and they get the most stocked birds out of any game land in pa
 
Zak406 said:
I am a member of pf.

For the little it costs me any good publicity is good for upland.

With that said imo the money should be spent this way.

Buy private land and convert to public.

Keep habitat up on that land to foster bird numbers and growth.

I don’t think the money should go directly to habitat we cannot hunt.

The pa game commission does the same thing albeit that is not a donation it’s liscens sales. They will put in habitat in places we may or may not have access to with permission. At the end of the day all that does is foster some farmers property for them to shoot big bucks. Seems like a waste imo.

Once again for what they get from em a year I cannot say to much but I do contribute


The local chapter by my camp has done a wonderful job in elk county pa. Great habitat and they get the most stocked birds out of any game land in pa
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Just being a member is not doing much of anything for your local chapter to buy anything. Get to the banquets and spend some money, that is where their funds come from to acquire land or do any activates that require more than their volunteer labor. They can't do this alone, they partner with other conservation groups to make these big projects happen. PF doesn't have the resources to maintain the properties that they help acquire, they turn those parcels over to the state and the state then manages them. (PF a non-profit, those aren't allowed to retain ownership) Get on the board and try to convince the others to not give their members seed for food plots or help to plant shelterbelts or any other property improvements on private ground. Not sure if you would promote ending youth activities and helping with lobbing legislators for more conservation programs or not. Those kind of changes will never happen without folks that think like you.

If you just think about land acquisitions, those will take 100s and 100s of thousands of dollars, this would be years and years of saving funds and often needs the help of a conservationist's estate or legacy gift to make these become a reality.

If you get to the banquets, it might surprise you the number of landowners who generously support PF. The other board members could remind you of this as you explain to them your vision for PF.

Funny how many have similar views on what PF should be doing and don't financially do anything to support them but maybe pay the $35 membership (those membership dues go to the national chapter to keep the organization running). The folks that want more public access hunting opportunities SHOULD be the biggest supporters financially, if that was actually important to them.
 
remy3424 said:
Just being a member is not doing much of anything for your local chapter to buy anything. Get to the banquets and spend some money, that is where their funds come from to acquire land or do any activates that require more than their volunteer labor. They can't do this alone, they partner with other conservation groups to make these big projects happen. PF doesn't have the resources to maintain the properties that they help acquire, they turn those parcels over to the state and the state then manages them. (PF a non-profit, those aren't allowed to retain ownership) Get on the board and try to convince the others to not give their members seed for food plots or help to plant shelterbelts or any other property improvements on private ground. Not sure if you would promote ending youth activities and helping with lobbing legislators for more conservation programs or not. Those kind of changes will never happen without folks that think like you.

If you just think about land acquisitions, those will take 100s and 100s of thousands of dollars, this would be years and years of saving funds and often needs the help of a conservationist's estate or legacy gift to make these become a reality.

If you get to the banquets, it might surprise you the number of landowners who generously support PF. The other board members could remind you of this as you explain to them your vision for PF.

Funny how many have similar views on what PF should be doing and don't financially do anything to support them but maybe pay the $35 membership (those membership dues go to the national chapter to keep the organization running). The folks that want more public access hunting opportunities SHOULD be the biggest supporters financially, if that was actually important to them.
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I live in a state that pheasants are no longer native. I could have all the private land I want and there are no pheasants there
 
So if there USED TO BE wild pheasants there, why can't there be any now on that same private land, if the habitat was in-place? They were never native in this country, but I am just assuming you meant "a wild sustained population of them". I think I would rather PF worked with the landowners to help them create habitat and populations of wild birds. You have to start somewhere. The state releasing birds into the known public areas for "shoots" doesn't do pheasants much good.
 
remy3424 said:
So if there USED TO BE wild pheasants there, why can't there be any now on that same private land, if the habitat was in-place? They were never native in this country, but I am just assuming you meant "a wild sustained population of them". I think I would rather PF worked with the landowners to help them create habitat and populations of wild birds. You have to start somewhere. The state releasing birds into the known public areas for "shoots" doesn't do pheasants much good.
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It’s Pennsylvania. Pheasants are gone and not coming back they quit trying a few years back.

Let me also rephrase they were never “native” but they had a sustained population until I believe the 80 s. As for hunting out west I have never been may be going for elk in September.
 
I'm a Life Member. We used to have a pretty good chapter but with a changing of the guard things have dramatically declined. It seems the new board members are more interested in self serving behaviors than being altruistic. My wife and I attended the banquets and spent money when they were in the spring but the last few years they have moved them to either the night before the season opens or on the night of the season opener. I travel for the opener so I'm not around for the banquet.
This year I'm changing my membership to another chapter, one that seems a little more in touch with what I feel the organization represents.
 
The local chapters near me have them in February and March. Not a lot else going on then, but there is a chance of weather. On the opener seems odd.
I live in, work in and our ground is all in different counties. I always go to the county banquet where the ground is located. I have been to the other 2 banquets also, but not regularly. They are all well supported, but the largest populated county has the least attendance. Seems odd.
 
I don't have time to read through all the comments but 30 years ago I was wondering why they exist. They were buying land and posting it with PF signs in ND. It drove me nuts mostly because I didn't understand it at all. Maybe there was more to it. Fast forward to maybe 10 years ago PF is actually putting people in FSA and NRCS offices to assist landowners with Private Lands programs. That was a big step forward. I have not been a part of PF in years mostly because I am stupid busy with work and family. Hopefully after a few years I will have more time to help out with these type of programs but for now I am just the internet guy that lives through you guys actually posting pictures of hunting. I think this organization has come along way. Guessing every chapter is different too. I tried joining DU locally years ago and the guys who were running didn't want any help so that was the end of my DU volunteering. Some day when life slows down I plan on helping out again.
 
Here’s my take, for what it worth, on just about any organization like PF or QU or DU, etc…. They are working toward a goal. We may or may not like the goal. But you have two choices. You can get in and be involved and help shape the direction it goes or you can sit on the outside and let whatever happens happen. Now, you don’t have to be directly involved to do good for the sport. You can do it on your own and we need that, but big organizations have much more influence with the PTB than individuals. I see chapters that appear to be very active and work on projects constantly and others that seem to just be there to have get togethers and chili cookoffs.
 
About the PATH ground I have a question. I think they claimed it opened all these "new" acres to public access. I'm all four that. PF and OnX have really beat their chests about it. I swear as I'm one to keep old paper map books with notes scribbled in them, I've seen multiple PATH properties that were public walk-ins years before the program started. On top of that they looked better for barrel racing than bird hunting when I saw them.
 
Bob Peters said:
About the PATH ground I have a question. I think they claimed it opened all these "new" acres to public access. I'm all four that. PF and OnX have really beat their chests about it. I swear as I'm one to keep old paper map books with notes scribbled in them, I've seen multiple PATH properties that were public walk-ins years before the program started. On top of that they looked better for barrel racing than bird hunting when I saw them.
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I think a lot of the "new" access tends to be in the form of the CREP program; which PATH has helped to incentivize certain land owners to enroll larger blocks of acreage rather than just square off wetland areas.

One thing to remember, SD GFP doesn't secure walk-in access for just upland bird hunting. Deer, antelope, & waterfowl hunters also use walk-ins. I've shot a ton of ducks and geese off walk-in fields and pasture ponds. I've shot antelope off walk-in pasture. I put my buddy on a nice wt buck on opening morning of 2024 ER rifle season on a walk-in pasture I scouted for a few days prior.

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If you look at financials for PF the bulk of the annual revenue is from government grants through the pitman-Robertson funds. That is why they partner with states so they can get a portion of the states pitman allocation. They spend more in advertising than all the banquets and memberships bring in.
 
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